The present invention relates generally to the field of sequential access storage systems (for example, tape based storage systems), and, more particularly, to allocating partitions in sequential access storage systems. A “sequential access storage system” herein means a type of storage system, such as a magnetic tape, for which the medium is traversed sequentially (without skipping tracks as on a cylindrical or disk medium storage system) to gain read/write access to a given address.
A linear tape file system (LTFS) is an open standard format, including protocols for recording data on magnetic tape. LTFS is also software that enables access to data on a magnetic tape via a file system interface. In accordance with the LTFS format, a tape cartridge is typically divided into two partitions as follows: (i) an index partition which records meta-information such as information associated with the allocation of files; and (ii) a data partition which is used to record the data.